JoTo PR Uncovers the Upside of â€œFake Newsâ€�

Karla Jo Helms, CEO of JoTo PR, discusses what “Fake News” is doing to the media.

TAMPA BAY, Fla. February 06, 2018

Since â€œfake newsâ€� emerged as a topic of global debate, public trust in the media dropped to 43%.(1) Yet even though daily newspaper publishers have watched their weekday circulation plummet from 62 million to an estimated 35 million over a span of 26 years, 93% of adults in the U.S. have turned to getting their news online through mobile devices or desktops.(2) This insatiable demand for news and information has led to a consumer-driven economyâ€”where consumers are more informed and are running the show. â€œFake newsâ€� accusations appear to have created a â€œcredibility crisisâ€�(1) and impacted public trust in the media,(3) Karla Jo Helms, founder and CEO of JoTo PR says, â€œbut weâ€™ve seen an increase in the number of media outlets carrying news to the publicâ€”and the amount of content the media is putting out.â€� Even The New York Times is trying to figure out how to handle this insane demand for information by putting out 230 articles a day, 365 days a year.(4)

Reuters reports that online news services have recently experienced record growth; from November 2016 to June 2017 The New York Times added more than 500,000 digital subscribers; The New Yorker added 250,000 and The Wall Street Journal added 200,000. In addition, U.S. online news payments jumped from 9% to 16% between 2016 and 2017, and donations have tripled in the last year.(3) While 91% of journalists believe the public trusts them less than they did three years ago, most journalists have affirmed their commitment to accuracyâ€”92% state that â€œbeing right is more important than being firstâ€�.(1)

â€œThough some claim â€˜fake newsâ€™ is hastening the demise of traditional media, the reality is that the shifting media landscape now favors the immediacy and accessibility of online reporting,â€� said Helms. If anything, the â€˜fake newsâ€™ phenomenon has created a greater appreciation for journalism that exhibits integrity, objectivity and accuracy. Media outlets that have adapted to meet consumer expectations are finding that itâ€™s possible to thrive in todayâ€™s market, and that a growing number of people are willing to pay for quality reporting.

Helms acknowledges that social media has had a profound impact on the way news is consumed today, making it easier to share journalistic content with a global audience, but on the same token also facilitating the spread of misinformation. In the United States, 69% of adults use at least one social media site(5) and 51% rely on social media for news(3)â€”yet only 20% feel social media does a good job of helping users separate fact from fiction.(3)

But Helms continues that this hasnâ€™t caused people not to read the newsâ€”it has caused them to be even more voracious on their news perusals and fact-checking. For example, consumers are spending upwards of five hours a day online on mobile devicesâ€”92 percent of that online viewing done in apps for social media, news, entertainment, etc.(6) And fifty-seven percent of the business-to-business â€œbuying processâ€� begins online, before anyone contacts a company,(7)(8) searching up to twelve sources before coming to that â€œ57%thâ€� informed decision.(9)

Finally, Helms notes that the proliferation of fake news has boosted mediaâ€™s demand for â€œrelevant, authoritative and accurate contentâ€�(1)â€”which is good news for businesses that can provide it. â€œCompanies that distinguish themselves as a reliable source of factual, newsworthy information can earn valuable media coverage,â€� she explained. â€œNot only does this publicity and PR represent a significant cost savings over advertising, but consumers tend to regard stories published by traditional media outlets as more credible than paid ads, marketing materials or social media posts. Savvy business owners can use this opportunity to challenge fake news and create a competitive advantage.â€�

JoTo PR embraces a nonconventional approach to public relations, with Helms serving as the companyâ€™s Chief Evangelist and Anti-PR Strategist. â€œEvery time something gets labeled as â€˜fake news,â€™ it doesnâ€™t shut down the communication channels open to the publicâ€¦there are more media outlets that crop up in the form of new media, e.g. more chances for exposure, more chances for communicationâ€”it is just getting bigger.â€�

About JoTo PR:

After doing marketing research on a cross-section majority of 5,000 CEOs of fast-growth trajectory companies and finding out exactly how they used PR, how they measured it and how they wanted the PR industry to be different, PR veteran and innovator Karla Jo Helms created JoTo PR and established its entire business model on those research findings. Helms is the Chief Evangelist and Anti-PR Strategist for JoTo PR. Experienced in crisis management, she learned firsthand how unforgiving business can be when millions of dollars are on the lineâ€”and how the control of public opinion often determines whether one company is happily chosen, or another is brutally rejected. Astute in recognizing industry changes since its launch in 2009, JoTo PRâ€™s team utilizes newly established patterns to create timely PR campaigns comprising both traditional and the latest proven digital media methods. This unique skill enables them to continue to increase market share and improve return on investment (ROI) for their clients, year after yearâ€”beating usual industry standards. Based in Tampa Bay, Florida, JoTo PR is an established international public relations agency. Today, all processes of the agency are streamlined PR services that have become the hallmark of the JoTo PR name. For more information, visit JoTo PR online at https://jotopr.com.

Marcus Clinker

Marcus is a reporter on the Political Capital team focusing on money in politics. Before joining Daily Telescope, he worked as a researcher and writer for the Institute for Northern Studies at Ohio State University and as a freelance journalist in Portalnd, having been published by over 20 outlets including NPR, the Center for Media and Democracy,The Huffington Post, Salon, Truthout and VICE.com.